Strong negative feelings toward Arabs and Arab-Americans prompted Sharon Redick, a professor emerita of home economics at Ohio State University, to study the Middle Eastern region more closely.

She said she feels the general population’s view of Middle Easterners has been defined by the media, not by the facts.

Redick had a week-long program focusing on media distortions of Arab-Americans and of familial structures in the Middle East, specifically Egypt, which she has visited nine times.

Until the late 1990s, the United Nations focused on economic growth as the only important factor for any Third-World nation, Redick said.

She said there are four major concepts to look at in every country’s familial structure: human development, universal family issues, contextual factors and democracy.

These are important, because people make a nation, she said.

“Development should be, ultimately, about the people,” Redick said.

Other ways to facilitate people-oriented development are with human resources development, basic needs development and human welfare development, Redick said. The United Nations developed a human development index (HDI) to measure human development in 173 self-reporting nations. The HDI uses life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate, school enrollment and gross domestic product (GDP) as measures, Redick said.

However, the index is not comprehensive, is restricted to long term outcomes, is an average measure, has a quantitative measure for a qualitative function and has a limited scope, Redick said. Out of 173 self-reporting nations, Egypt was in the lower third percentile and was considered a moderately developed nation.

There is also an alternate HDI that rates gender equity, freedom and voice, environment and communication and technology. The Arab nations rated lowest, out of seven regions in the world, in freedom, and sixth of seven in gender equity, with only sub-Saharan Africa behind them.

In Egypt, it has been legal for women to vote since 1956, only 46 years after U.S. women gained the right to vote. In 1957, the first woman was elected to the Egyptian Parliament, Redick said. Egypt also scored above average on the HDI or AHDI in the categories of freedom, personal voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness and the rule of law, she said. Egypt scored below average on gender empowerment and graft, or political corruption, Redick said. Even though Egypt has been a united country since about 3110 B.C., Redick said it has only been a free, self-governed state since 1952.

Redick focused on democracy, which she said she believes an effective democracy must be built, rather than imported. She said she believes it will be difficult to bring democracy to the Middle East countries. She said she thinks families will be where democracies start.

“The family is the smallest democracy,” Redick said. “That is at the heart of society.”

Mary Gregoire, professor and chair for the department of apparel, educational studies and hospitality management of FCS, runs the FCS education leadership academy (FCSELA), which is a summer program that brings in guest lecturers like Redick and allows professionals to gain continuing education credits.

This is a great opportunity for students and the guest lecturers, Gregoire said. “This program provides a way for [students] to get to know each other and the leaders from the FCSELA,” Gregoire said.